Quincey ready to go; Janik heading back to Grand Rapids

Defenseman Kyle Quincey will play tonight against the Minnesota Wild. Quincey missed Tuesday’s win in Columbus with a sore groin.

“It was kind of a fluke thing that happened, and hopefully, wasn’t very serious,” Quincey said. “Missing Columbus was frustrating, but I think it helped me in the long run. It was just one game. It’s better be safe than sorry. I’m ready to go tonight.”

The Wings sent Doug Janik back to Grand Rapids after the morning skate.

“He was going make a decision this morning if he was good or not and apparently he’s going to play so I’m going back to Grand Rapids,” Janik said. “Everybody wants to be in the NHL and it’s been awhile (for me). I got called back up and got a chance. It’s always nice when you get called back up and your team wins. It was short but I enjoyed it.”

Janik played in Detroit’s 5-2 win on Tuesday over Columbus.

“(Grand Rapids is) a few points back right now, but we have a three games in hand on just about everybody,” Janik said of the Griffins’ playoff hopes. “With the addition of Ty Conklin it’s made for a good run here and hopefully tonight I’ll go down there and we’ll keep it going.”

“He played really well for us,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said of Janik’s play. “He’s a good penalty killer for us. He fits in well, he’s a good player and good security for us.”

The Wings’ depth on the blue line allowed them to part with Mike Commodore at the trade deadline.

“We knew the morning of the trade deadline we had a tough decision to make,” Babcock said. “Anytime you let Mike Commodore go somewhere else you’re risking, but we felt the game for him personally was so much better than if he stayed here. We felt that was the right decision to make as a management team. Then, we wanted to look at Smith and obviously with Quincey here they’ve got to play. We had Janik too so we were covered off in that situation pretty good.

“Making that trade for Quincey was a real important one,” Babcock added. “We’ve got to get him up to speed with how we play, special teams and all that. Smith has been in the minor for probably a lot longer than he wanted to be. We think he’s ready to play. We like him there. We’re setup that if guys decide to leave in the offseason we’re covered.”